Improvement in metallic protectors for the soles and heels of boots and shoes



and Shoes.

8 t 0 0 B f 0 s 1 Av au H d Tn 0 a S 06 S1 0 N S e h Nt r. vim Hm H8 t 0 r P 0, :1 I 1 a t 8 M Patented March 5, 1 878..

3 a ZT receive the protectors.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY E. VAN BENSOHOTEN, OF HILLSDALE, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN METALLIC PROTECTORS FOR THE SOLES AND HEELS 0F BOOTS AND SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 201,070, dated March 5, 1878; application filed January 23, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY E. VAN BEN- SGHOTEN, of the town of Hillsdale, county of Columbia, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Me tallic Protectors for the Heels and Soles of Boots and Shoes, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a bottom view of a leather heel with my protectors attached. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a leather heel, showing the rabbet in the margin of the heel prepared to Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the metallic protector detached. Fig. 4 is a vertical section of same.

The object of my invention is to provide the heels and soles of bootsand shoes with a metallic protector to prevent unequal wear thereof, which can be attached as easily and readily as nails, and which, when attached, will form a continuous metallic margin of any thickness and breadth required, and at the same time complete the contour of the heel or sole uniformly with the leather portions thereof.

It consists, mainly, in making such protectors in the form of large-headed nails, the heads of which should be so shaped as to admit of presenting an apparently unbroken line around the edge of theheel or sole when in position, and in the peculiar construction of the heel or sole to admit of the protector being set in even with the surface.

To attach the protectors, Fig. 3, the heel (see Fig. 2) is rabbeted on the margin where they are to be inserted sufficiently to accommodate the heads A A A, so that when driven to their places the heads will fill up the rabbet B, and their top surfaces (see Fig. 1) be flush with the bottom surface of the heel, and their outer sides uniform with the outer edge of the same, completing the contour of the margin uniformly with the construction of the leather portion thereof.

The head A and prong O of these metallic protectors (see Figs. 3 and 4) are respectively of such form, and united together at such an angle or in such relation to each other, that when driven home the heads shall hug closely the edge of the rabbet, and unitedly form a continuous metallic protector for the margin of the heel or sole Where most exposed to wear, and also that the direction of the blow applied in driving to the outer edge of the head shall be-in a vertical line with the prong, so as to prevent the head being broken off.

These protectors are inserted in the rabbet B by first making a hole with an awl in the same manner as when inserting the common heel-nails, care being taken and judgment exercised as to the proper direction of the hole made by the awl,-so that the protector-heads, on being driven, may all come to their proper places.

As before stated, these protectors, with shorter prongs and somewhat smaller heads, may also be applied to the soles of heavy boots and shoes, to save the more exposed parts from wear, in the same manner as to the heels.

The prongs for soles may beTm ade long enough to be clinched inside, if desired. These are preferable to plate-protectors, as neither the place nor space to be occupied by them is limited to any particular part of the margin of the heel or solethey can be'applied in any number and to any part.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A heel or sole protector having a suitable penetrating-shank and an enlarged head of such shape that when a series of protectors are driven into the rabbeted edge of a heel or sole their outline will conform togthe contour of the finished heel or sole, substantially as set forth.

HENRY E. VAN BENSOHOTEN.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM E. HULL, HENRY VAN HOESEN. 

